


Serenity and Suffering

by blaziken



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Small mentions of blood, Vampires, mademoiselle is alive sometimes, mika is a child so there's no actual shipping happening, small mentions of abuse towards children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 21:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20021509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blaziken/pseuds/blaziken
Summary: Mika runs, as far away from the orphanage as his legs would carry him. He stumbles across a mansion, and befriends a young girl who ends up changing his life.---------------Filling prompt 113 from the gifting round of ESO 2019!"ShuMika Vampire! AU where Shu is a guardian for Mademoiselle and Mika is an orphan from the village who somehow found their castle."





	Serenity and Suffering

At the age of 5, Kagehira Mika lost both his parents within a few weeks of each other. His mother, ravaged by an illness he didn’t quite understand, and his Father took his own life after being overcome by grief. Mika, left hungry, lost, and alone, spent weeks on the streets of his small village, begging for the smallest scraps of food and sleeping wherever he could find a fraction of warmth. His frail body became weaker, and as young as he was, he knew in his mind he wouldn’t be able to last much longer. His memories of that time were hazy, but during his final day living on the streets, moments before he passed out from exhaustion and starvation, he swore that the most beautiful blonde haired girl came to save him.

The next time he woke, he was in a soft, warm bed, something he hadn’t experienced in so long. It took him a while to fully come to, but when he opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar room, with many different pairs of eyes staring at him curiously from the other side. His body still ached all over, but he realised that for the first time in weeks, he didn’t feel hungry. He blinked a few times, and as his eyes adjusted, a warm smile was offered to him by the Lady perched on a chair next to the bed. 

“Good morning, Son. Please call me Mother. You’ll be in my care from now on.”

At the time, he was too young to understand what an orphanage was, he simply thought it was a home that children like him came to, when they’d lost their parents and had nowhere else to turn. As time went on, however, he learnt that many of the children had been left here by their parents, some to keep them safe from their fathers, some to hide them away from ill-fated family members, and many of them to escape illnesses in their households. Over the years, many of the children came and went, mostly being collected by their parents or a family member: the danger passed for them so they were able to return to their families. For Mika, he knew that day would never come for him, and as he grew older, he became less and less likely to interact with and befriend the other children. The pain that would strike him through the chest seeing their bright, smiling faces at their parents was too much for him to bear, so by the time he was twelve, he barely spoke to any of the children anymore. 

It was also at this time, he overheard a conversation between ‘Mother’, and one of the other caretakers. One that he was almost certain was about him.

“The boy can’t stay here forever, the money that accompanied him when he was brought in has all but run out. We can afford to sustain him for perhaps another few months, but after that, he won’t be able to stay here any longer.”

“It’s such a shame, if the patron who brought him here all those years ago had left a name, then perhaps we could reach out to them to pay to extend his stay for a few more years. At least until his teen years.”

Mika held back his sob as he listened into the conversation. His mind was reeling, whoever had brought him here back when he was a child had left enough money to pay for him to live here until now, but that wasn’t the thought he was able to latch onto. _‘They’re gonna kick m’ out as soon as the money runs out! Nnah, they would’a kicked me out sooner if they could’a.’_

Only one thought stuck in Mika’s mind after that: _‘I hafta leave, I hafta leave, I hafta leave-’_

Without caring that they’d know he’d been eavesdropping, Mika sprinted past ‘Mother’ and the caretaker, slamming open the main entrance door to the house and running away as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn’t notice, nor did he care where he was running, he simply wanted to get as far away as possible. His legs carried him out and away from the village, through the open field outside of it, and away through the forest that surrounded the village. He didn’t stop for what seemed like forever: his lungs burned and his legs screamed at him to stop, but he kept running. As soon as it seemed like his body couldn’t carry him any further, through a clearing in the forest, he came across a grand Mansion. If he had been paying attention, the first odd thing that would have struck him was that, up until a moment ago, he hadn’t been able to see any glimpse of it from the forest, or even from the fields before that. But now, staring up at the magnificent stone walls, Mika felt a sense of awe. He finally slowed down to a halt, and almost immediately collapsed to the floor, his chest heaving as he inhaled large gulps of air. 

The Mansion itself looked to have withstood generations of wear, the craggy stone walls were rough and rugged, as if no repairs had been made since it was raised from the earth. The gardens surrounding it were bleak and almost barren, large patches of long-dead foliage littered the grounds, but as Mika regained himself and hauled himself up from the ground, he noticed one small patch of ground, closest to the entrance doors, that was filled with fresh flowers of many different colours and types. 

His curiosity very quickly got the better of him, and as he closed the gap between himself and the small flower patch, he leaned in close and sniffed all of them individually. A few of them made him sneeze, but he very rarely saw flowers at all, let alone this close, so he wanted to take every chance he could. 

Mika was so engrossed in the delight that the flowers brought him, that he didn’t hear, nor did he notice, the large doors near him open. 

A small girl stepped out, not that much smaller than Mika, with long, beautifully curled blonde hair, large emerald eyes, and the most exquisite dress: perfectly fitted and perfectly pleated. She eyed Mika for a few moments and smiled softly at him, then took a few steps forward.

“Are you enjoying my flowers?”

Mika jumped at the unexpected voice, and as he turned to where the girl stood, he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards to the ground with a loud thud. The girl crossed the gap towards him and crouched down in front of him, an expression of panic flashing across her face.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Nnah ‘m sorry for lookin’ at ya flowers without askin’ ya, they were just so pretty I couldn’t stop myself.” 

The girl let out a soft giggle and smiled warmly at him. “I don’t mind, I’m glad you think they’re pretty. I’m the only one who looks after them, so I can only have a small amount. Which one do you like the most?”

His awkwardness and uncertainty vanished in an instant as he scrambled to his feet to excitedly point out a small cluster of pale purple flowers on a long stem. “This one looks real pretty and smells real sweet. The others made me sneeze but this one’s the nicest!”

The girl moved to stand next to Mika and reached out to stroke one of the petals with her finger. “This one is called a Lilac, I can cut you off a stem if you’d like to have one? The petals will wilt quickly though so it won’t last very long, but you’ll be able to smell it for a few days.”

“Nnn Onee-san ‘m super happy ya offered that to someone like me, but I couldn’t let ya cut one of them. ‘m as worthless as trash so they’d probably die at the thought of comin’ with me.” 

“Who taught you to speak about yourself that way? You’ve spoken kindly about them, I’m sure any of them would be happy to go with you.” 

“Nnn, thank ya Onee-san. Ya really kind, not like most people.” He then looked up to the house once more, and realised something even more alarming. “Hey Onee-san, d’ya live here? Nnah, I entered ya home without askin’, I really am the worst.”

The girl patted Mika on the arm, and frowned slightly when he flinched away. “I’m Mademoiselle. I do live here, but please don’t worry about it. As long as the Master here doesn’t see you, it’s fine. He’s always asleep during the day, he’s such a lazy person. Asleep in the day, wide awake at night. Fufu~ I don’t know what I can do with him~”

Mika tries to say her name back to her, but fails miserably, “Made...Madom...Madmoi… Madonee, he sounds kinda like a Vampire.”

Mademoiselle simply smiled at the comment, but otherwise ignored it. "What's your name then?"

"Nnah, 'm Kagehira Mika. 'm not fond of my name cuz it's so girly. I got teased a lot at the orphanage cuz of it but I don't really talk t' anyone now."

"Hmm~ That seems really lonely, Mika-chan. You’re surrounded by people even at an orphanage, but you still don’t talk to anyone?”

“Nn, it gets lonely sometimes, but th’ other kids leave after a while so ‘m always left behind. It hurts less t’ just be lonely instead o’ watchin’ all my friends leave. I betcha don’t have that problem right, Madonee?”

Mademoiselle shook her head, and cast her gaze sadly over the barren gardens, up towards the high walls of the Mansion. “It’s just me and my Guardian that live here. It’s not lonely, though, I love him with all my heart, so I’ve never needed anyone else~”

“Have ya not had a friend before, Madonee?”

“Not for a long, long time~”

“Then, can I be ya friend? Nnah I know ‘m worthless ‘n defective ‘n I understand if ya don’t-”

“I’d like that, Mika-chan. I’d like that a lot.”

The grin that spread across his face was bright and sincere, and Mademoiselle found herself smiling back at him. They spent a little time chatting idly, before Mademoiselle said out of nowhere, “It’s time for me to go, Mika-chan, and you should return home too, everyone is probably worried about you~ But please come back and visit me, whenever you want to return, just walk into the forest and you’ll eventually find me. And when you leave, just keep walking through and you'll reach where you need to be~” She stood and lightly brushed off her dress and bowed courteously, before turning and quickly running through the Mansion's entrance doors. 

Mika blinked a few times, thoroughly confused by the promptness of Mademoiselle's exit, but he couldn't help but grin at himself. He'd made a new friend! And one that wouldn’t up and leave like everyone else in the orphanage. He grinned at the door, and bowed to it (having been too shocked to bow back to Mademoiselle when she did), but as he turned to leave, he happened to catch a slight movement in one of the upper windows of the Mansion. The window was dark, with the curtains drawn, but he was _sure_ he saw a person looking down at him with a flash of red eyes. He blinked and squinted, but the figure was gone, the curtains undisturbed. He wasn’t sure if he’d just imagined it or not, but the presence still send a shiver down his spine. 

_‘Nnn that was scary. I don’t wanna go back t’ the home but Madonee said I should ‘n I don’t wanna let her down.’_ He frowned at his dilemma as he started making his way back to the forest, and just as Mademoiselle had told him, the forest seemed to let him exit at the exact right spot, so he was able to see the start of the village. He felt an impulse, and turned to bow to the trees he’d exited from, then ran back towards the village.

The scolding he received from ‘Mother’ wasn’t as harsh as he was expecting: she clipped him around the ear, then pulled him in for a hug, telling him not to run off like that again. 

He didn’t listen. Over the next few months, Mika snuck out at least once every week to return to the Mansion hidden in the forest. Every time, a few minutes after he arrived, Mademoiselle was always there to greet him. They took walks around the barren gardens, he’d tell her stories from the orphanage, she’d teach him all sorts about plants, and would tell him stories she thought he’d be interested in hearing. There’d been a few times where it had rained in the middle of their walks, and they both took shelter inside alcoves in the building’s exterior, or under the arches of the large, heavy doorways. But Mika was never taken inside. He was awfully curious, but he enjoyed his time with Mademoiselle too much to want to ask and potentially offend her. 

His punishments when he returned to the orphanage, however, were getting worse and worse. He may have been a dense child, but he knew his time living there was running out very quickly. A few weeks after what would have been his 13th Birthday was the worst. The moment he’d thought he’d snuck back into the orphanage undetected, he was struck across the face with a hand. ‘Mother’ was furious, and for the first time, Mika was terrified of her. He knew in his gut that it was time for him to leave, but he couldn’t manage to get away. She grabbed his arm and dragged him up the stairs, throwing him into a room he’d never been in before, and locking it behind him. 

“You can stay there until you repent.”

His wails were enough to rouse an entire street: there was still daylight outside, but the room was dark with no way for any light to sip through, and as he landed against a wall, he simply curled into a ball on the floor and wept, his mind flashing back to Mademoiselle and her soft smile and her bright, colourful flowers, and his desire to be anywhere but that room was overwhelming.

His tears dried up after a few hours, and as he heard the distinct click of the lock, he was numb to ‘Mother’s’ face, her usual warmth apparently returned, but he wasn’t fooled anymore. He allowed her to help him up off the floor and lead him downstairs, seating him on the sofa. His eyes glazed over as he stared out the window, the darkness of the night and the violent patter of the rain helping him completely tune ‘Mother’ out. After he was sure she was done and distracted by something else, finally, he stood from the sofa and moved towards the entrance, grateful that the key was still hanging by the lock. 

“Mika.” He heard ‘Mother’ call from across the rooms. “Mika?” He had no time to hesitate: the key turned easily in the lock, and as he slammed open the door and sprinted out into the night, he vowed he’d never return.

By the time he reached the edge of the forest, he was soaked to the bone, chilled to the core, and his lungs and legs were very close to giving up on him. But he couldn’t stop, not now. He needed to reach Madonee, at least she could hide him, if only for a little while. The forest, as it had many times before, answered his calls. He kept running, tripping over felled branches and foliage underfoot, but eventually he reached the clearing that held the mansion. He slowed his pace up to the door and tried to call Mademoiselle’s name, his voice hoarse from how heavy he was panting. After calling a few times with no answer, he did the one thing he’d promised to never do.

He opened the Mansion’s door and went inside.

He was already guilty about going against Madonee’s wishes, coupled with the fact he was traipsing so much water through. He closed the door behind him, and for a split second was in awe of the beautiful interior: the only light came from a few lit lanterns, but even in the low light he could tell the interior was exquisite. The rough, jagged exterior had no bearing on how perfect and pristine this mansion seemed to be inside. But, he didn’t have time to gawk. There was a soft glow of light from one of the rooms further down the hall, and he trudged his way to it, apologising with each step he took. He turned the corner to step in the room calling Mademoiselle’s name, but came face to face with the most handsome man he’d ever seen. Dusty pink, perfectly styled hair, an angled face with a soft jawline, soft, furrowed brows, with an expression that read ‘How did you get in here?’. He was clad in a silken maroon shirt and fitted trousers, sat on a large armchair with a beautiful porcelain doll of a blonde haired girl perched on his knee, and a worn book in his hands. And his eyes, red, the colour of fresh blood, both transfixed on Mika. He felt his legs give way underneath him as his tears started up afresh, and as he collapsed on the ground, the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was a voice saying,

『Shu-kun, please help him.』

It took two days for Mika to break his fever. In his haze of semi-consciousness, he was sure that everytime he opened his eyes, the blonde doll was staring back at him. When he finally regained himself fulls, the doll was still staring at him, but after blinking a few times, he was face to face with Mademoiselle smiling softly down at him. 

“You gave us a fright, Mika-chan, suddenly running in and collapsing all in the same moment. All Shu-kun could do was stare at you until I prompted him to move you.”

Mika’s mind flashed back to the Man in the chair and bolted upright, the motion causing his head to spin, and he let out a loud noise of distress. “NNAH ‘M SO SORRY! I barged in without askin’ ‘n made all the floors wet n’ made ya do something unnecessary. I really am worthless, ‘m sorry.”

Mademoiselle opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by another voice. 

“If you’re sorry, then perhaps next time, don’t barge into another person’s home when you’re unwelcome and unwanted, you vulgar child.” 

Mika inhaled sharply as the Man he saw from the chair was now stood in the doorway holding a plate. It took him another few moments to realise that not only was he still inside Madonee’s home, but he had been covered in a thick, warm blanket and had been resting on a sofa. The man crossed the room and placed the plate down on the side table next to Mika, “Eat that, so you can get your strength back and leave my home.”

Mademoiselle giggled, and reached out to hold Mika’s hand in her own. “Please don’t take what he says to heart. He was fretting the entire time you were sleeping. Making sure you weren’t too hot or too cold, applying a cold towel to your forehead when I wasn’t able to. He does care, I promise.”

The man simply left the room with a pointed “Hhmph!”, and Mika clutched Mademoiselle's hand a little tighter.

“Are ya sure, Madonee?”

“I’m sure, Mika-chan. But please, eat. You need your strength to get better. Shu-kun just needs some time to get used to you.”

He made a noise of dissatisfaction, but still reached over to pick up the plate, practically inhaling the croissants he’d been brought. 

Mika ran her through the events leading up to that moment, and he now filled in the parts of ‘Mother’ striking him, something he’d neglected to mention to her before. 

“Is that why you waited so long between visiting me? So I wouldn’t see the bruises?”

Mika nodded, embarrassed, but he paled when he felt himself being brought in for a hug. “Nnn?”

“Mika-chan, I don’t want you ever going back to that house.”

Mika melted into the hug, it was the first time he’d been embraced like that in so many years, and he nodded into her shoulder. “‘m never goin’ back there. ‘m gonna hafta find somewhere else t’ live first but I’ll be gone as soon as I can be.”

“You should stay here with us, Mika-chan. Shu-kun won’t mind, he’s very kind, he just doesn’t know how to show it.”

“Nnn, I dunno about that Madonee, he really doesn’t seem t’ like me at all. Madeonee? Hey Madonee?” He pulled back to look at Mademoiselle, but her face seemed to have glazed over and she was unresponsive. Then, Mika witnessed the strangest thing he’d ever seen. One moment, Mademoiselle was on the sofa next to him, then as he blinked, she was gone, replaced as if by magic with a small porcelain doll with almost the exact likeness of the girl from moments ago. He stared at the doll, unblinking, unmoving, and made a loud cry. He picked up the doll and held her carefully, then ran out of the room.

“Nnnnah I turned her into a doll, what do I do!? Excuse me? Shu...san? Hello?” 

Mika scampered about the ground floor of the mansion, peeking into rooms and calling Shu’s name. Eventually, he heard an exasperated sigh from the last room he looked in. 

“Don’t call my name so casually, child, I’ll-”

“‘m sorry I turned Madonee into a doll, she was fine then she was like this I dunno what I did ‘m sorry what can we do I-”

Shu cut him off with the click of his tongue. “Who gave you permission to touch Mademoiselle? She’s fragile, and you’re a vulgar excuse for a human. Hand her here, before you damage her.”

Mika was thoroughly confused. He’d called the doll Madonee? 

『Fufu~ I‘m sorry you had to find out like this, Mika-chan. I wanted to tell you properly, but I didn’t realise how much time we’d spent chatting.』The voice came from Shu, but it was so different to how his voice was a moment ago whilst scolding Mika, It was almost comical, as if Shu was putting on his worst impression of a girl’s voice. But, whilst Mika was dense, he was a lot smarter than he gave himself credit for.

“M...madonee?” 

『That’s right~ It’s good to meet you, I’m Mademoiselle. Although it’s odd reintroducing myself to you, since we already know each other so well~ I’m actually a doll, but the magic of this house lets me be human for a little bit of time each day. And when I’m not human, I live inside Shu-kun, so I can use his voice and still feel a little bit alive~』

“Mademoiselle, why are you divulging our secrets to this child? Is it not enough that I’ve allowed you to speak with him all this time? Now you want to share our life story with him too? NON! I won’t allow it”

『It’s a little bit too late for that, Shu-kun. Besides, he’s going to be living with us from now on, so it was easier to explain it now to him~』 

“He’s, what? You invited him to stay without consulting me first?”

『Shu-kun, please don’t make it sound like you hadn’t already planned this. I know everything you do, and everything you think, so do you think I’d miss you preparing the pantry with human foods?』

Shu’s face contorted as if he was trying to argue with himself, then he let out a loud “Hhmph!”, followed by “Do whatever you want.”, then he stomped away taking Mademoiselle with him. 

What Mika wanted was to sleep. He returned to the sofa he’d woken up from and tucked himself in, closing his eyes, willing and hoping for this bizarre sequence of events to actually be real.

As much as Shu tried to make it clear that Mika was NOT welcome in this house, he never made any attempt to actually make the boy leave. On the contrary, Shu seemed to make every effort to make sure Mika was as comfortable as possible. There was always a fresh breakfast laid out for when Mika awoke, he was allowed to choose a bedroom for himself, a mysterious package of new clothes had been waiting for him on his second day, and he’s even been allowed to sit next to Shu on a couch whilst Shu read. Mika was thankful he’d been taught to read at the orphanage, at least he could keep up with him, even if he didn’t quite understand exactly what it was he was reading. Shu was always accommodating, though, making sure Mika had read everything before turning the page.

For the first time in a long time, Mika was content.

* * *

He’d been living at the Mansion for a few months and had settled in surprisingly well, considering the circumstances and all the strangeness that came with them. The peace had to end eventually, though. Mika’s luck wasn’t that great.

The three of them were in the kitchen on an inconspicuous evening, Shu trying to teach Mika the correct way to knead dough to make croissants (Mika wasn’t very good), with Mademoiselle perched on a shelf in her doll form. 

“Oshi-san, I don’t get why doin’ it this way is different than doin’ it that way?”

“That’s because you are ignorant, Kagehira. The perfect pastry must be created as a work of art, and accepting a sub-par method just states you’d accept sub-par work.”

『Shu-kun, aren’t you being a little harsh?』

“Non! This boy must be taught to accept perfection. How else can I continue to exist under the same roof as him? Now, Kagehira, take the knife and split the dough into eight identical sized pieces.”

Giving Mika a knife was Shu’s worst mistake. As the blade sliced through Mika’s finger, the metallic tang of blood immediately found its way into the air. Everything that followed seemed to happen all at once. Mademoiselle was in her human form in record time, and was forcefully shoving Mika behind her. As for Shu, he changed in an instant. The whites of his eyes had been dyed black, the contrast making his crimson pupils stand out even more. As he snarled at both Mademoiselle and Mika, Mika clamped his hand over his mouth as he saw the fangs appear in Shu’s mouth, sharp, angry, and full of bloodlust. 

“O-oshi-san?”

“Mika-chan, please don’t be afraid. I’ll get Shu-kun calmed down.” 

She took a few steps forward towards Shu, picking up the knife from the counter as she did, and held up one hand towards him. “Shu-kun, please calm down. You know how terrible you would feel if you fed from him. Here, that’s what I’m here for, Shu-kun.” She took the knife and dragged it across her forearm, letting the blood spill out down her arm and onto the floor.

“Madonee!”

She steadfast ignored him, and took a step closer to Shu. His eyes finally focused on her, and he took a step closer and grabbed her arm, sinking his fangs around the area she’d cut. As he was feeding, she dropped the knife to the floor and reached up to stroke his hair, speaking softly at him to calm him down. After what seemed like an age to Mika, Shu finally removed himself from Mademoiselle’s arm, apologising weakly to her. He’d forgotten about Mika, however, and when their eyes met, Shu’s gut wrenched in horror. 

“....oshi-san?”

Shu stormed past Mika to get out of the kitchen. He’d done something unforgivable: how dare he show Kagehira something so ugly and unsightly. 

It took Mika a few beats to realise Shu had left without saying anything, and he turned and fled the kitchen after him. Mika somehow caught up with Shu easily, and reached out to grab his hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“Oshi-san, please don’t run away.”

“I’ve shown you something disgusting, Kagehira. You should hate me, you should want to kill me, drive a stake through my heart and rid the world of my repulsive self.”

“Nnnh, I don’t hate ya, Oshi-san. ‘n ya not disgusting. Ya gave me somewhere t’ live, ya keep me fed ‘n happy, ya let me be friends with Madonee, ‘n ya let me be around ya all day. Someone as worthless as me but ya helped me out anyway. My life is yours, Oshi-san.” 

“Hhmph. What would a child know about offering their life to another person? Speak to me about it again when you turn thirty.” His expression softened, though, and he turned back to Mika. “You don’t seem surprised, Kagehira?”

“Nn, th’ first time I met Madonee, I told her ya sounded like a Vampire ‘n she was a bit awkward ‘n didn’t respond. So nah, ‘m not surprised.”

“Hhmph. So you’re stupid as well as defective. Anyone in their right mind would have fled ages ago.” 

“I told ya, Oshi-san. Ya saved my life, so now I owe it to ya.”

  


It wasn’t the last hardship the unusual trio faced, but it was most certainly one that stuck in all of their minds. 

For Mademoiselle, she found the third piece to her strange family.

For Shu, he found someone to make that large house just a little less lonely. 

And for Mika? 

He found a home.

**Author's Note:**

> WHEW this was a doozy. Three times the length of my main submission for ESO, but I had SO much fun writing this. I apologise for any grammar issues as it's un-beta'd and it's being submitted at 3am. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Find me on twitter @clothhwaltz!


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